In the context of the present invention the term "cable" is to be understood in its widest sense. It encompasses all types of wired connections, whether the wires are individual or joined together by an insulative material, the whole forming a harness or the cable proper, with or without an outer protective jacket.
In many applications using cable harnesses, especially in the fields of automobiles and aeronautics, devices called stress reliefs are used to prevent excessive loads on the terminations. The harnesses are exposed to bending, stretching and other loads (various movements, vibration, etc.) which may be prejudicial to the reliability of the electrical connections. Also, in the applications mentioned above the number of connections is very large. The terminations of a cable harness are usually connected, by soldering or otherwise, to the contacts at the rear of a male or female connector. The latter is in turn attached to a complementary connector, for example by screwing them together.
The prior art includes stress relief devices for cables designed to be removably attached to the rear of a connector attached to the end of the cable harness which screw onto the rear end of the connector. There are two main configurations: a "straight" configuration, substantially aligned with the connector body, and an "angled" configuration, usually at 90.degree.. The connector body has a screwthread at the rear onto which fits an internally screwthreaded ring. This ring traps the concentric body of the stress relief proper, forming a cable retaining clamp.
This assembly is usually completed by a cable tie type attachment for fixing the cable harness to the clamp.
Devices of this kind are described, by way of non-limiting example, in patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,805 (Safa Kirma) and GB-A-1 391 879 (Glenair Inc.)
It will be readily understood that once the terminations of the cable harness have been electrically connected to the contacts at the rear of the connector, by soldering for example, it is virtually impossible to release the clamp. The cable harness is usually installed in a cable duct of some kind and fixed to the latter along its length. The only solution is then to unscrew the ring retaining the clamp and to disconnect the terminations one by one, which usually means unsoldering them, possibly in an extremely small space. The working conditions are therefore less than optimal.
This type of operation may be needed to change from the aforementioned straight configuration to an angled configuration or vice-versa, for example.
While retaining the advantages of the prior art stress relief devices for cables designed to be removably attached to the rear of a connector, an object of the invention is to provide a device enabling easy mounting and demounting, without necessitating disconnection of the terminations of the cable harness connected to the contacts at the rear of the connector.
It also enables a change from a straight configuration of the rear body to an angled configuration, or vice-versa, under the same conditions.
To achieve this, in accordance with an important feature of the invention, the front part of the clamp is open, the latter having a "C" shape, and the material of the clamp has elastic properties so that the branches of the "C" can be compressed.
The invention therefore consists of a stress relief device for use between a connector and a cable harness, the device comprising a clamp having an open rear part forming a receptacle for the cables of said harness and an annular front part, and a ring having a particular inside diameter adapted to be fixed to the connector the ring having in its rear part an internal flange and in said front part an increased thickness periphery having a profile complementary to that of said internal flange to maintain the annular front part of the clamp in rearward abutment, characterized in that the material of the clamp has elastic properties and in that said front part of the clamp is open, this part having the shape of a "C" of which the facing two lips are separated by a distance e determined so that, when a compression force is applied to it, said lips can move towards each other by virtue of its elasticity sufficiently to enable insertion of said front part of the clamp inside the ring having said particular internal diameter.